Greetings lost traveller! I'm not quite sure how you managed to stumble on the Church Of Blessed Indecision, but since you're here, you may as well pull up a chair and check out my inane ramblings on life, videogames, music and anything else that occupies my mind for a few fleeting seconds before 'the voices' start talking to me again...

Thursday, July 31, 2008

OK, I'll be honest... I love the tune... Sweet Home In Alabama. It was Lynyrd Skynyrd's response to Neil Young's 'Southern Man'. But let's remember Neil Young's intention.... It was to expose the racism still prevalent (in that region) in the sixties/seventies. (Hell, if we're gonna keep it real in the eighties, nineties and noughties too!)

The response from Lynyrd Skynyrd 9back in the day) was meant to say hey peeps, we're not all like that, and actually we're proud of where we're from!

OK let's fast forward to 2008... Kid Rock, a white rapper from Detroit, has established that he's not going to cut it in the Rap World. This guy has been rapping since the eighties and he wanted to cut it in the world of rap.... mostly (until Eminem) a sole market of black artists.

He's been slowly moving towards representing the white 'rock' market for some time. It may be a shrewd business move on his part, or it may be a cynical move to betray his rap and Detroit roots. In the video, he 'recalls' his eighties summers of listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd by the lake, with white chicks in confederate flag bikinis.

BULLSHIT!!! He was trying to cut it (bravely may be?) in a world of rap, where his black contemporaries were making all the moves. He was probably listening to mix tapes from the hood and trying his best to emulate what he heard....

It distresses me greatly to seeing him selling out in a huge way, to the red-neck audiences that will be lapping this shit up on both sides of the Atlantic. Kid Rock might well become the poster boy for a bunch of white folk that see him bedding Pamela Anderson as being a major achievement and forget the real heroes that inspired him to be a rapper. And more sinisterly see him as being a protagonist for Southern USA bigotry...

I worry that this tune, which is doing hugely well on both sides of the pond, will become a chant for ignorant white peeps. He's undoing all the groundwork made by Eminem and Bubba Sparxx.

What concerns me more is that I've put money into this fucker's pocket, by buying his shit for years. He's such an icon that he's been a Simpson's character and is now a mainstream idol. He's the only white rapper that ever used the n-word in a song... Kid Rock? Fuck you!

I'll sign off by posting a stream of videos which I hope you'll watch... They might bring some context or sense to this rant....

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Oh my god! My middle son, Big Mart, has just squealed like a girl from his bedroom! When I went to investigate the cause of said squeal, it seems that Marty's favourite EVER gaming character, Leon. S. Kennedy is back!

Now at this point, I have to say that within my house, Marty is my gaming and Resident Evil soulmate. We've enjoyed the franchise together. He's played the games with me, sometimes completing the harder parts that made me cry like a baby.

Now about 'Leon S' (that's how Marty always referred to him.) When I was playing RE4 Wii Edition downstairs, Marty was playing RE4: PS2 upstairs in his bedroom. Giving me status reports on his progress and posing thought provoking questions like... "Who do you reckon would win in a fight Dad? Leon S. or Ryo Hazuki?" or "Do you reckon Ada Wong could take Jill Valentine?"

I got a bit worried at one point that Marty was a bit gay for Leon S. but I know he just loves the character in a healthy way... *(disclaimer - Father K is not homophobic and feels for consenting same sex couples, homosexuality is as healthy as heterosexuality)- Just not for his sons... *Cough!* LOL!

Anyway, back to the point of the post... I just read this...

"Sony Pictures and CAPCOM(R) Introduce RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION

Fans at San Diego's Comic-Con International Get a Sneak Preview of the All New CGI Animated Feature Film Based on the Popular CAPCOM Video Game Franchise

Last update: 11:26 a.m. EDT July 28, 2008

SAN DIEGO & TOKYO, Jul 28, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Seven years after the destruction of Raccoon City, the war against the zombies rages on in RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION, a co-production of CAPCOM Co., Ltd. (CAPCOM) and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan Co., Ltd. (SPEJ) based on the popular video game and film franchise. Making its theatrical debut this fall in Japan and coming to DVD, Blu-ray(TM) High-Def and PSP in North America later in 2008, this spectacular, all-CGI animated feature takes the zombie action to a whole new level with its ground-breaking visual effects and thrilling new storyline.

SPEJ and CAPCOM hosted a sneak preview of RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION during a panel and press conference, open to the public, at San Diego's Comic-Con International in San Diego on Friday, July 25 at 1:00 PM P.D.T. in the San Diego Convention Center (Room 2). During this event, producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi (associate producer of Resident Evil: Apocalypse and video game producer of Resident Evil(R) 4 and Devil May Cry(R) 4) and director Makoto Kamiya (special effects director of L: Change The World, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack) presented the worldwide debut of the film's revealing two-minute theatrical trailer and answered questions about RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION.

SYNOPSIS

The "Umbrella Incident" that took place in Raccoon City ended with a missile attack ordered by the government intended to wipe out the deadly zombie virus. Following this catastrophe, the Umbrella Corporation's stock plummeted. This serious blow to the business giant resulted in its complete dissolution. 7 years later, at an airport somewhere in the United States, on an ordinary autumn afternoon, a zombie is unleashed. Now, in an airport beginning to fill with the undead, the horrific disaster is about to repeat itself..."

Monday, July 28, 2008

OK my brothers! I'm at a crossroads right now. I've got five weeks of my beautiful break left, right? So despite the fact that the British summer seems to have arrived, I need to play some games. Yes I've had a few games of House Of The Dead III and Sega Rally on the PC, and yes they were good. But when it comes to console gaming, I'm in a bit of a jam...

You see I've got Umbrella Chronicles, Red Steel and No More Heroes where I'm so close to the finish of the game that I can smell it. But can I get there? NO!!! I'll put the game on, play itand lose. It's an exercise in frustration. For example in No More Heroes, I'm trying to beat the assasin Bad Girl. I play (and this might take an hour) and every time I get my arse kicked. Am I any further in the game? NO!!!

The same could be said of the 'Twin Ivans' in Umbrella Chronicles or the boss 'Tokai' in Red Steel.My gaming prowess does not seem to let me past these levels.

Onto the 360 then. I bought 'Dead Rising' and 'Viking' in May. I flounder around at the start of these games, but at the end of July, I'm no further on than on the day I bought them. So here's my dilemma...

Now most recently, I had the most glorious time playing 'Sword Of The Beserk: Gut's Rage' on the Dreamcast. I started it in June and finished it in June. It was a great experience, a holistic experience and it felt like I'd used my gaming time well.

At the moment, I'm trying to play 'Jet Set Radio' on the Dreamcast. And guess what? I love the game, (I've since bought Jet Set Radio Future on the Xbox and the Japnese soundtrack to both game on CD.) But when I load up the Dreamcast game, as usual, I've reached an impass...

Do I keep beating my head against a brick wall or do I just seek closure?... There is an absolute plethora of unfinished games I have awaiting me in my house. Let's just reference them for a moment...

Should I just trade my non-starters in and buy another game? Soul Calibur 4 is out in the UK in a matter of days... Or do I just keep all those non-finished titles (like I do with my Dreamcast collection) and wait for the day when I'm up for completing?.... Help me out brothers, I need your sage-like advice!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Apparently this is a 'Cosplay' (as in a person dressed like someone from a game.)I've no idea what game this young lady is trying to replicate and quite frankly I don't care. It's nicked straight from J's site and I am becoming somewhat obsessed by the image. I won't tell you what he said, but I massively concur. Enjoy!!! (I could be wrong, I'm not focusing too much on her nose, but could that be a little coke residue on her nostril?) I'm just imagining the scene right now... Snort this, stick the beret on and bend over... LOL!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Well so far this holiday I've been watching some great movies. So far it's been Star Wars Episode III, the Matrix, TMNT (surprisingly good!) and at the moment the most excellent A Scanner Darkly. I couldn't even begin to explain the plot. It's basically a cautionary tale of surveillance, totalitarian government, narcotic abuse, drug induced paranoia and so on.

Lord knows what watching this film under the influence of substances would do to your neural cortexes! LOL!

On more sober and sobering trip, watching the DVD "Zeitgeist" was a massive jolt of reality that shook me up somewhat. I've known about this horrifying agenda for some time, but the DVD wraps it all up and presents it so succinctly that it gave me shivers and made the hairs on my neck stand up. My littlest son Ted, has the full name Edward 'David Icke' Early, because of my ultimate respect for an individual that has tried to bring this agenda to our attention for the last fifteen years.

I urge you, nay compel you, to click on the links above. It's massively important that you know about the agenda unfolding before your eyes. It's scarier than what was happening in Nazi Germany in 1933. In fact if it's more dangerous than that, because instead of affecting one country or one race, it's the same agenda affecting the world and all it's people.

I'm preaching right now, but I'm entitled to! I'm a Reverend and a Father! Take heed bretheren! For the hour is close at hand...

Thursday, July 24, 2008

OK, it's the second day of my holiday and things have turned out great! First of all I ran out of beer tonight and I was at a loss to know what to do.... The shops were shut and things looked grim... Then a quick search on google turned up this.... Crateman! He delivered beer to my door for a reasonable sum at an unreasonable hour....

Next up was the amazing House Off The Dead III on PC. This is a franchise I've folllowed both on consoles (the Saturn and the Dreamcast) and also in arcades...

I've never experienced it's third incarnation on a home console until today... I've spent many a pound playing it in arcades with the pump action shotgun peripheral though... My middle ginger Marty bought me it for Christmas and I finally loaded it up onto my laptop, and got very close to completing it!

It's a killer port! The best PC game I've ever experienced... I look forward to completing it! As I mentioned over at the Saturn Junkyard just recently, PC ports seem easier to play...

Anyway, apart from Marty almost being mugged by a former pupil of mine, life looks pretty good. On the subject of that little prick, obviously being shot in the leg hasn't put him off a life of crime. So I'm going to pay him a visit and bang the little turd out. Hopefully some kind words from the Father might make him re-think his life choices. Hey ho! Let's see how hard he is when he deals with a man instead of a boy...

I've just nicked the following statement from the excellent CVG News letter that I have somehow managed to have posted to me on a regular basis. Lord knows it's difficult enough to bring you any exclusive gaming news without my beautiful contemporaries, Junlee, Funnyman or J bringing it to you first, but I think I may have been quick enough to bring you this... As usual, as it is not my words, I'll quote them in the customary maroon...

"Resident Evil 5 is coming to Wii, apparently. But it's not Nintendo or Capcom that let it slip. It was the president of Sega of America, Simon Jeffrey.

Discussing Nintendo's focus on the core gaming market, Jeffrey said: "The Wii's selling incredible amounts of hardware, but Nintendo knows it needs to expand the demographic. It needs to connect with the core gaming demographic."

He then added: "Resident Evil 5 - when that happens on the Wii that's going to help."

We scrambled for the phone to speak with Capcom who's 'funny' spokesperson gave us this comment: "We have nothing further to announce regarding Resident Evil 5 at this time," adding, sarcastically: "Did you hear about the Sonic MMO, though, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS and Megadrive? And they're bringing back the Dreamcast! Because it was brilliant."

Jeffrey insists the shocking statement during the Kotaku interview was a "simple slip of the tongue", and Reggie says Resi 5 isn't happening "yet".Still, makes you wonder what Sega may know that we don't..."

Pretty cool huh? As someone who has experienced every Resi game on a variety of consoles from the Saturn, Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube, DS and Wii, I have to say that my best ever RE experience was RE4 on the Wii...

So if this is true, I'm torn between enjoying the graphical splendour of the 360 and the intuitive control system of the Wii. Capcom aren't daft... They want to make as much money as possible from their next Resi installment. 360 owners and PS3 owners will buy this title on the day of release. They know Wii owners will be gagging for more after RE4, RE 0 (Japan only) and Umbrella Chronicles... If they release it on Nintendos finest, it'll be more money in the bank.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Ah here I am on a Tuesday afternoon at 5:30, with a lovely can of Strongbow in my hand and Alice Cooper's dulcit tones ringing in my ears...

Yes it's that most wonderful time of the year, the summer holidays!!! Going from full time education into the teaching profession, (with a couple of gap years in between ,) I've never worked properly in the month of August, EVER!

Sure there were summer jobs in the candy store in Ocean City Maryland or the year I laboured on a building site in the Roman city of St. Albans (yes I'm that old!!! LOL!) But they never felt like work.

So it's six weeks of chilling out, drinking beer, watching DVDs and playing games!!! HA!!

So hopefully I'll be able to blog a bit more too! For the latest news on my class look here...

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

You know, I was always a big champion of white rappers. As the music genre that was my favourite for many years, I was thrilled when the likes of TheBeastie Boys, 3rd Bass, Kid Rock and so on joined the hallowed hall of fame occupied by such amazing rap pioneers as Grandmaster Flash, TheSugar Hill Gang, Kurtis Blow and Run DMC. It proved to me that dorky white guys could be as cool and happening as their black contemporaries.

I've since posted here about MC Tunes, Eminem, House Of Pain, La Coka Nostra, Bubba Sparxx and so on.

Now with one fell swoop the phenomenon of the white rapper has just been put back twenty years. I IMPLORE you to watch this it is STUNNING! I'm actually beginning to think this kid has talent! Simply the funniest thing I've seen or heard in ages!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

I stumbled across this picture on the internet whilst bored. Suffice to say I stopped being bored immediately. I'm SO looking forward to this game, my interest fuelled largely by the great Junlee and his legacy of snippets and teasers. In fact I'm looking forward to this more than Soul Calibur 4.

This is simply because of how great the game looks visually and my love, since childhood of everything to do with DC comics. (I was always DC rather than Marvel.)

Now we've got Catwoman looking HOT!!! I hope I have the money to buy this on the day of release...

Thursday, July 10, 2008

One of my favourite artists in the world, Noel Gallagher, has jumped on the "games promote violence" bandwagon, in an interview with BBC Radio One's Newsbeat programme.

I seriously love this guy's music, have all their LPs and have seen them in concert three times.

But when he spouts ill informed opinion like this, I want to hold my head in my hands and cry.

The frankly grim rise in knife crime in the UK is due to bad social conditions, poverty, poor education, entrenched gang attitudes in inner cities and a shitty government that has done very little to address any of the above in it's 11 years in office. A government which Mr. Gallagher was very happy to endorse back in 1997 by the way.

Here's his comments in full:

'Oasis' Noel Gallagher has blamed violent videogames as one of the reasons for the knife crime problem among Britain's youth.

Speaking to BBC Newsbeat, the song writer said that violent games desensitise kids from crime, which is "really, really scary," he said."I was up in Liverpool for a week a couple of weeks ago and even on the news there it's every single night," said Gallagher.

"In my day, status was trying to be somebody, do you know what I mean, not trying to kill somebody."People say it's through violent video games and I guess that's got something to do with it", he suggested.

"If kids are sitting up all night smoking super skunk and they become so desensitised to crime because they're playing these video games, it's really, really scary.""I don't even know what Cameron or Gordon Brown are going to do about it," he added.'

Friday, July 04, 2008

Well I've been very quiet here lately (as I have been on all my blogs.) Thank you all for still popping by...

The truth is I have had no videogame news to tell, as I'm still grinding round the streets of Tokyo-to on my rocket powered roller skates. Yep I'm still plugging away at Jet Set Radio and haven't touched my Xbox or Wii since May.

So what can I tell you about? Well first of all there is www.glassgiant.comwhich is a fun bit of a site where you can do silly bits of photo-shop type stuff with ease. It's where I did the Elderly wanted poster and the FK Hollywood sign which now graces the side bar.

I've just finished the best book I've read in ages, Stephen King's'The Stand'. The tale of a government made plague ravaging the US and basically wiping out 99% of the population, King is a master story teller and the book has just kept me enthralled for all of it's 1300+ pages. Just before I finished it, I discovered that it had been made into a King scripted mini-series in the mid nineties. I bought the DVD off eBay and it's an excellent adaptation of the book. I've only watched the first part (there's four) but I'm going to get through it all this weekend (and continue on my JSR odyssey!)

Then there's work, which has contributed to my depleted blog output. For those of you who don't know, I'm a teacher, working in primary school (5-11 year olds) in inner city Manchester. My school is situated in my neighbourhood of Moss Side, famous (or infamous) in England for being full of guns, drugs and gangs.

Therefore, as you might imagine, we have (amongst the vast majority of good kids) a few bad apples. Kids who are seriously fucked up and whose behaviour is really bad. Some of them have mental health problems, psychological problems and some are just bad to the bone! That's where I come in. I've specialised in behaviour management for seven of the sixteen years I've been a teacher. My official job title is 'Lead Behaviour Professional' and usually I float around the school addressing incidents of confrontational and antagonistic behaviour, moving from class to class and supporting kids that are falling apart.

Phew! I've never got that deep or personal before have I? Well what I was saying, in a very round-about-sort-of-way, was that I've had that role taken away from me. For the three weeks remaining in school before the summer holidays, I've been given a class to take full time. This class has been falling apart, because they've been shat on by their teachers for the last two years. Both teachers, the one they had last year and the one they had this year, are on 'long term sick leave'. Neither one is actually ill, both are playing the 'sick' card, which within the English system, means that they can both receive six months full pay, as long as they've got a doctor gullible enough to sign them off.

OK! Where has that left the children? Well basically, fucked. These kids have little consistency or stability in their home lives. They need those two things when they come to school. It's been taken away. They are moody, depressed, volatile and fragile by equal measures. They fight (and I mean FIGHT) at the drop of a hat. They can't learn because they are constantly 'dissing' each other. Typical comment? "Go suck yer mum!" Charming isn't it?

So I'm with the 32 of them trying to educate and impart basic social skills for the whole school day. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a tough gig. This week, I abandoned the curriculum and we did 'Superhero Week'. We spent a week looking at Spiderman, Batman, Wonderwoman, the X-Men and so on. It all led up to them thinking up their own Superhero and writing about them for 45 minutes.

It worked! They wrote good stuff! Last week they couldn't even sit together and this week they sat in silence (listening chill out tunes) and produced work that was really, really good! On Monday I take 30+ of the 11 year olds camping for three days, and I get to escape the class from hell.

Spending three days away from home has never looked so appealing LOL!

Usually, my long posts fail to pull in the comments. If you want to hear more of my school life I'll tell you. I could do an entire blog about it. If not, it'll be business as usual. You decide!